History of the Original Wagon Seat
With a healthy skepticism of new furniture, my parents preferred antiques before it was fashionable to do so. They collected some beauties: a Windsor chair from the 18th century, a Chippendale wing chair, a set of ladder back chairs and an old wagon seat that my dad bought at a barn sale in the neighborhood.
The wagon seat lived in our living room for many decades. Two people could sit in it comfortably. As you look at it today it proudly wears the dings and dents of its use on a wagon and as a love seat in a busy household. The curved metal arms sport dented brass ferrules and in places the paint on the legs is worn away to raw wood.
Through the years dad reupholstered it a few times. The last time he covered the seat, arms and back with black burlap affixed with ornate brass tacks.
Since it was backed up to staircase, few saw the gold leaf lettering on the back: “W. G. Moulton & Sons Florists.” Businesses often painted their names on the back of the wagon seats. Our house was a Moulton house once as were so many in the neighborhood. It felt right for the seat to be in that house and in that living room.
Reproducing an Antique Wagon Seat
The wagon seat looks fairly simple but it has its challenges. The sides and back join together at compound angles. The hardwood back supports rise in a tangle of angles and curves.
To start I made measurements and determined angles. It quickly became clear that the angles on one side weren’t always the same as the angles on the other side. These variation and a proliferation of rough tool marks tells the story of how the maker crafted the wagon seat by hand and eye. Who made this wagon seat and where? Did it come from Amesbury, Massachusetts, which was a carriage building Mecca and has a carriage museum. Or was it made in Maine? I’m looking into this further.
With measurements in hand, I used the program SketchUp to model the parts. I made some changes here and there to arrive at my take on this antique. You can see the overall model (without the wire arms that will be on the reproduction) in the drawing.